Then another guy I met told me that we have surplus spending. What we spend on food, gas/transpo, some clothes is just fine. Necessity yun. Surplus is what we spend on things we don't really need. The money I spent on coffee, tambay, gimik, motorcycle/car modifications... surplus. I cut down on these, unit-unti hanggang sa totally nawala na. I was surprised with the result. Ang laki pala ng ginagastos ko sa mga bagay na di naman importante.

Sabi rin nya, to not feel the bump of saving, dapat we make it a point to pamper ourselves once in a while. A trip out of town, a day at the spa, a movie... yang mga yan, ok daw yan. Basta minsan lang, wag sobra-sobra, at hinding-hindi kukuha sa nakatagong pera.

With the money I saved for not spending on suplus and the money I kept every payday, I was able to meet my objective. My buffer money na ako--na patuloy ko pa ring pinapalago. And combined with my wife's savings, we were able to pay the equity of a two storey house, pay the DP of a brand new car (well, I sold the old car for this, pero dinagdagan pa rin namin para umabot demand ng dealer), have a collection of old Japanese scooters, get married last year, get into photography, and pay the medical bills for our new born just a few weeks ago. All these in barely two years. It took us a year and a half to save for the house and the wedding. I said it was impossible. I've worked for 9 years, ni isang buwang sweldo, di ko naitago. It only worked when I took saving seriously.

It depends on the lifestyle you want. If you want ENOUGH, it can be stretched to cover that. If you want MIDDLE CLASS, it's almost impossible.

I invest in BPO companies that are moving to homebased workers and I'm so happy to see people that are making minimum wage with their day jobs switching to online jobs where they make more and get time to spend with their families.

For Pinoys with decent education, online work (data entry/BPO-assistance) maybe an option for the right balance between income and lifestyle.

OT: Work from home rocks!

Originally Posted by kuya_marz

It depends on the lifestyle you want. If you want ENOUGH, it can be stretched to cover that. If you want MIDDLE CLASS, it's almost hard.

I invest in BPO companies that are moving to homebased workers and I'm so happy to see people that are making minimum wage with their day jobs switching to online jobs where they make more and get time to spend with their families.

For Pinoys with decent education, online work (data entry/BPO-assistance) maybe an option for the right balance between income and lifestyle.

A close friend here of Pinoy descent (he calls me "Tito") works for a company which maintains the Hotels Combined website. This company hires Pinoys to do some research online.

I was able to convince my PI-based sister to take this home-based job because it not only pays more than her secretarial job but also because she'll be cutting down her travel expenses to ZILCH as she'll be working from home. What's really interesting is that she was able to work whilst here on vacation in Australia. Noone in her work team knew she was in Australia -- as far as they're concerned she was working and being productive.

Establish a personal budget. Create your budget. Yup, nakakatawa pero ginagawa ko yan in my own little notebook so I can instantly see my incomings and outgoings. Lalo na at mag-isa lang ako dito and my immediate family is in the Philippines. Kaya naman, I really have to take care of myself alone in terms of financial well-being.

Savings Account. Important yan lalo na pag nasa ibang bansa ka. If there's one certainty in life, it's that unexpected things can happen at any time. Whether it's a natural disaster, an unplanned illness, the loss of a job, or a bad investment, the financial repercussions of an emergency situation can be debilitating if you aren't properly prepared. A well established savings account can help prevent a financial crisis when these situations arise.